by Marlon Madden
The tough decision taken in 2018 to restructure Government’s debt and the employment of several economic advisors are today bearing fruit, Prime Minister Mia Mottley has declared.
In an effort to silence her critics on the most recent hiring of a Public Advisor on COVID-19, Mottley, who is the Minister of Finance, explained that without previous advisors and without taking the difficult decision of debt restructuring, Barbados would not have been in the current position it is economically.
Barbados now boasts of very healthy foreign reserves, which stands at just over $2.9 billion, or close to eight months of import cover. The highest it has been for the country.
“For those who say ‘a lot of that is borrowed’, I say show me who was able to borrow money before May 2018. We could not borrow a Yen, we could not borrow a cent and that is why we had to print money,” said Mottley.
She argued that the island was in a far better position than some of its Caribbean neighbours when it came to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and responding to the effects of some of the worse crises in recent times including Hurricane Elsa’s impact in July and the ash fall from the La Soufrière volcano in St Vincent in April.
“Any one of those three events on top of what we were doing when we came into office in terms of stabilising this economy would cause other people to literally either surrender or be the victim of serious heart attack and indigestion as they try to solve it,” she said.
Pointing out that the journey has not been an easy one, Mottley said “but it is a journey that has been literally worth it because the resilience, the determination, the persistence and the sacrifice shown by Barbadian people buttressed by advisors – because we don’t have in the government all of the services and skills that we need”.
Mottley, who was addressing the nation recently, said she was upset at the “vilification and attempted demonisation” of retired journalist David Ellis after he was appointed last week as the COVID-19 Public Advisor.
The Prime Minister also brushed aside any lingering concerns about her administration’s decision to hire several economic advisors including the UK-based advisory firm White Oak, which had been paid in excess of $20 million to help with the restructuring of the island’s just over $7 billion debt.
In fact, Mottley stoutly defended having various advisors on Government’s payroll, saying “were it not for the guidance and advice of our advisory team we would today be forced to make very hard and painful decisions with respect to the management of COVID and with respect to the oversight of other vital aspects of our social and other health care services”.
“We are fortunate my friends, to have the services of advisors like White Oak, who helped us restructure our debt, such that one month before the start of COVID we had completed the domestic and the international restructuring of our debt.
“We were fortunate as well to have the benefit of advisors like Dr Kevin Greenidge and Professor Avinash Persaud, and Dr Clyde Mascoll and Mr Justin Ram in more recent times, to help us be able to ensure that the kind of fiscal space and the economic decisions we have to take to get us through this situation we can do,” she explained.
Over the past two years the Mottley-led administration has come under heavy criticisms from political and other pundits when it decided to hire the economic advisors. Economists and residents have also raised concerns over the island’s continued borrowing, which has increased the debt levels.
However, Mottley insisted that it was because of the advisors, the borrowing to shore up the international reserves, coupled with other policy interventions and the dedicated assistance from the Cubans and Ghanaian nurses, that Barbados was able to manage the effects of the natural disasters and health crisis so far.
“So, we are fortunate in a very key way,” said Mottley.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
